The Bluegrass Shack is a music store in Southern Illinois dedicated to acoustic music. This blog describes the town, store activities, bluegrass music in general, instrument repair, and my own personal opinions about all things bluegrass. You can visit our website at www.thebluegrassshack.com.

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Saturday, July 24, 2010

Miscellaneous Stuff

Wow! It's been a while since I last blogged. Things have been pretty busy around here and a lot has been happening. We've sold about a zillion fiddles online in the past month. You'd think it would be an influx of purchases for kids starting school, but it has actually been adults who have decided that they want to finally fulfill the dream of learning to play an instrument! Congratulations! I always say that one of the nice things about music is that it is never too late! We have a great policy on fiddles here at The Bluegrass Shack, too. We offer a 100% trade-in policy for all fiddles, whether they are new, used or vintage, as long as they are still in good condition. That is fiddle for fiddle, and fiddles are the only instrument for which we offer this policy.

The past month has seen many birthdays around here as well. The last couple of jam sessions have been filled with food and other goodies to help us celebrate. What fun!

We had a float in the New Athens Homecoming Parade again this year. This makes the 5th year in a row for us. Pictures of our float and the Pickin' Chicks float were both printed in full color in the Freeburg Tribune this past week.

The Pickin' Chicks won first place in the Four Fountains Talent Contest held yesterday. They auditioned last month just for a spot in the contest, and they played wonderfully!

We had our 7th Annual Bluegrass Shack Summer Fiddle Contest on Sunday. We had 30 contestants and a packed house at our new location -- the New Athens Community Center. Many thanks to Dick and Gary for making all the fiddle trophies; to The Pickin' Chicks and their families for providing all the food and beverages, and for helping with the door and numerous other things that were needed; to Dawn for her help with scoring; to Janice and Marc for judging; to Kabbie for help with the raffles; to Zane and Ron for performing for the crowd between divisions while the scores were tallied; to Eric and Brad for help with the equipment, chairs, tables and setup; to Earl for taking all the pictures; and to all the rest whom I might have forgotten to mention by name for everything else! I hope I haven't forgotten anyone! The crowd was wonderful! The music was wonderful! The food was nothing short of amazing (especially the homemade desserts!!!!)!

I think 4-year old London stole the show with her performance on fiddle. Anyone who saw her will agree! She was simply adorable. Our contestant from the farthest location was Tim, from California, who played in the Junior II Division. In fact, Tim won 1st place in his division! John B., our oldest contestant, won the top prize of $100 in the Open/Senior Division. If you haven't been out to our Facebook page, you really need to take a look there. I have posted pictures from this event and many other events and/or happenings here. You might just see yourself!